Thought As A System (Key Ideas) [Paperback]

Chris Jenks (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415119804 | ISBN-13: 978-0415119801 | Publication Date: December 2, 1994 | Edition: 1

In this book, David Bohm takes as his subject the role of thought and knowledge, rejecting the notion that our thinking processes neutrally report on what is "out there" in an objective world. He explores the manner in which thought actively participates in forming our perceptions, our sense of meaning, and our daily actions. He suggests that collective thought and knowledge have become so automated that we are largely controlled by them, with a subsequent loss of authenticity, freedom and order. David Bohm is the author of "Wholeness and Implicate Order", "The Undivided Universe", "Unfolding Meaning", "Science, Order and Creativity" and "Causality and Chance in Modern Physics".

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The late David Bohm was Emeritus Professor of Physics at Birbeck College, University of London. He was the author of numerous articles and books, including Wholeness and the Implicate Order and The Undivided Universe (with Basil Hiley). --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (December 2, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415119804
• ISBN-13: 978-0415119801
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,833,608 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How thought manipulates us, November 1, 1999

By 

Frank Bierbrauer (Cardiff, Wales, UK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Thought As A System (Key Ideas) (Paperback)

A superb book with Bohm investigating the nature of thought in all its subtlety through a dialogue approach used by Bohm in several other books. Bohm's remarkable way of dialogue investigation assumes nothing except his internal investigations of his own thought processes which are explained in a manner allowing free discussion, ie nothing is assumed, set in its ways and everything is open to question, similarly he doesn't create any sophisticated terminology which could confuse the issue or the people who are asking the questions. The talks are in the words of every day people and use their everyday experiences for understanding. Thought is dissected in all its aspects, the creation of the `subject' and `object' and the underlying self, how thought gives rise to the structure of society and its problems, where is thought appropriate, these and many other questions are studied with no final answers allowing a deeper search to be performed by the reader. A book desperately needed to brush away the cobwebs of terminology, systems, fantasies and other claptrap so prevalent in our society.

78 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bohm Off Running With Krishnamurti's Ball, May 31, 2000

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"[e-mail]" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thought As A System (Key Ideas) (Paperback)

This book is the result of Bohm's collaboration with Krishnamurti, which lasted for over twenty years. David Bohms background as a proven physicist enables him to explain K.'s thought to the West in a more systematic, clear fashion that even K. could. This book was put out after Krishnamurti's death, and so it represents the results of their collaboration from Bohm's point of view. The implications of this analysis of thought are profound. It out does phenomenology in depth as well as it's avoidance of the hideous academic jargon. The only other thinker to take as in-depth a look at "Thought" is Rudolph Steiner (see 'Intuitive Thinking As A Spiritual Path'). This book brings a focus and clarity to a subject that never quiet graduated beyond the experimental dialogues between Bohm and Krishnamurti. Bohm also took the dialogue format (very similiar to Socratic) as his methodology (see his book on communication). Bohm felt that Krishnamurti's greatest contribution was his ideas about the "observer and the observed" and the nature of thought. Bohm had already had intimations of these ideas in sub-atomic physics. Excellent stuff!

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A crucial book for understanding thought and its effects, September 23, 2001

By 

Jason E. Gordon "Writer Etc" (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Thought As A System (Key Ideas) (Paperback)

I was introduced to Bohm through his video dialogue with Krishnamurti in The transformation of Man. He is one of the most honest, clear thinkers I have ever read. This book is really a transcript of a group discussion of thought with Bohm at the head. If you ever wonder why you get angry for "no reason" or why people get so upset over ideas, then read this book. And if you have an insight into the way thought works, you'll never be the same.